50
MEMOIRS OF A TETERAI DETECTIVE.
" 1 could l^teT no longer   I ran like an insane '¦ pity on me in His infinite goodness, and permit
wheels^ the passing vehicles, and end my ^owe^boto wrth avidity. . 1 gj-mg
m" Returning somewhat to my senses, I deter- i manifested no further desire to take his own
mined to watch lier night and day, and satisfy  life.
myself of her infidelity witli my own eyes. I
gave up my situation so as to carry out my pur-
pose more effectually; and it was not long be-
fore I saw ,1 uliette go into the wine-merchant's
shoo. She came out very soon, and I denounced
her for her treachery. She cried bitterly, and
swore she would never see him again. But, in
spite of this promise, I resolved on vengeance,
preferring to see her dead at my feet than in the
arms of another. I determined to kill her if
her future conduct led me to suspect her of dis-
loyalty. So I continued to watch her; and
some days afterward I saw her get into an om-
nibus, which I followed. Weary of running, I
got into the vehicle, and asked her where she
was going.
" ' To see one of my friends,' she answered,
with a hesitation which showed me she was
telling me a falsehood. I took her home to her
mother's; but from that moment the thought
haunted me: 'This must be ended. I must
kill her.    I must kill her ! '
"Day before yesterday I went to see her at her
employer's, and asked her to take a walk. It was
noon-day. We walked till nine in the evening,
when we found ourselves in the Rue Cherche-
Midi.    We went into a lodging-house, and I
On his arraignment he repeated the avowals
he had made to me, and every time I visited
him in his cell I found in him the same
thoughts, the same confidence in the Divine
pity, the same love for the girl whom he had
sacrificed to his mad jealousy. I spoke of his
trial.
"I would," said he, "it were over, so that 1
might the sooner go to rejoin my Juliette, who
is waiting for me in heaven."
Some 'few days after the death-sentence had
been pronounced, I had a final interview with
the doomed boy,
" All will be ended soon," said he, with a
tone of ineffable joy. "I have only a single
wish left : it is to see you at the moment of
death, to thank you for all your goodness!"
He extended his hand, and I pressed it gently
within mine. For this he expressed his grati-
tude by a look so full of tenderness that I could
not refuse to be present at the closing scene.
But on the day of his execution I was no longer
Chief of the Secret Service, having been put on
the retired list on the 15th of November; and I
have always regretted my inability to keep the
promise I made the unfortunate boy.
The Journal des Débats described his execu-
action, of the police on that morne,,.
sion.                                            ^Ul
The   attempted   regicide  of   th
filled all France with consternation    T*»»
opinion at once charged the poW   "M*
pacity, in not preventing the crime 1,*    7-
the conspirators before its consumer ne*
The resignation of the Prefect a f '
after the occurrence gave some dew ^
thority to the popular judgment ontwf °! »
I propose to discuss in tho few yl
pages the question whether the * nk
have prevented that appalling Sc*-
whether the functionaries clianr..•' at«
safety of the head of the State wefe i,!t* *
claiming to have faithfully perform..T?»
of their responsible office;           '   ° thetll«s
On the  7th  of January, 1858 a t.i»
dispatch advised the Minister of the W
that an Italian named Pieri was on V
Paris in company with another person ''J5_.
intention of killing the Emperor "  a 7*
language of the indictment, on which the '
asked for a chamber and bottle of wine.    On tion in the following terms:
reaching the chamber, we lay down on the bed
in our clothes, and I caressed her neck with my
hand, and asked her if she really loved me.
" ' Yes,' she answered, but in a manner so
cold, so indifferent that I was maddened.
' This morning at half after six, the clerk of
the prison of La Roquette entered Humblot's
cell and informed him that his sentence had
been confirmed. The prison chaplain followed
immediately, to offer him the consolations of
oners were subsequently arraigned and trie
Pieri ant
ites hefor,
morning of  the  following
Leaving London on the 6th, Pieri and Goï
reached Calais at fifteen minutes before hr
felt' in"my coat-pocket for a razor I had put; religion.    The condemned man received them
there for the purpose, and I cut the throat of | with deep humility, and. remained nearly an
my Juliette! " Oh, my darling! my loved one!
how had I the heart ! She expired, murmuring,
' Mamma! mam—ma!' "
His tears suffocated him, and he could not
go on.
Habituated as I was to such recitals, I felt so
hour in conference with his confessor
•' At a quarter to eight, the executioner, who
had been waiting in the adjoining room, came
to demand the prisoner, and the chaplain
placed him in his hands. As he left the room
for the one adjoining, Humblot noticed the gov-
deep a pitv for the victim and her slayer that ; ernor of the prison, and saluting him, said in a
my eves filled with tears. I make the avowal ; calm voice : ' Sir, 1 thank you from my heart
without shame.                                                      j for the kindness you have shown  me during
He resumed his story:                                         my confinement.'   The governor urged him to
" When I had killed her I washed my bloody ! have courage, and the chaplain answered ; ' He
hands and buttoned my coat to hide the blood j will, sir, I answer for him ; his hope is in the liv-
en my clothes, and giving her a last passionate ' ing God, and the infinite mercies of Christ.'
kiss, I left the house and went down to the ; One of the keepers, asking him if he wished
river to wash off the blood with which my gar- ; something to eat, he answered that he wished
ments were saturated. Then I went, home to ; for nothing. He yielded, however, to the ad-
my poor mother and bade her farewell, saying: j vice of the chaplain, so far as to drink a glass
' Kiss me for the last time, mother; lam lost! 'of wine." The preparations for the execution
I am an assassin! All is over! The scaffold ; were now made, and he submitted to them in
waits for me!' I wandered recklessly from silence without the slightest change of coun-
street to street, not knowing where I went, and ; tenance. When they were finished, he asked
was surprised at night to find myself outside j for a second glass of wine, which he drank;
the barrier. I went "to a lodging-house to pass j and the funeral procession set off on foot, the
¦tiie night. Yesterday morning I went to the I convict walking with a keeper on either side,
Morgue, hoping to see once more the face of j the confessor and executioner in front,
her I had adored and killed; but alas! I was | "The scaffold had been erected in the Place
denied this happiness,  for her body was no \ de la Roquette the night before, in front of the
longer there. I went aw-ay miserable; for I
loved her still so much ! I resolved to terminate
with my own hand a life wliich 1 found insup-
portable. But before doing so I wanted to
make confession. I went from church to
church, hoping to find a priest, but I could not.
I went back'to the lodging-house to pass the
night, my heartbreaking with remorse. To-day
the end is come, and 1 thank God; for it would
have been hideous—it would have been impos-
sible—to live haunted by the thought, that I
had murdered her who was my life—my all!"
His tears had flowed like water while he told
his painful story. I had never before encoun-
tered an assassin of his sort; he was a distinct
species, an anomaly in crime, a murderer who
cherished the memory of his victim, and whose
heart was broken by her loss, and who, never-
theless, in the bottom of his soul appeased and
ratified the act by which she had been deprived
of life.
1 was about to speak when I saw that hé was
falling. I supposed at first it was the result of
the emotions excited by his story ; but on his
return to consciousness he confessed to me that
he had abstained from eating in order to die of
hunger. I blamed him for this resolution, add-
ing that I could not comprehend it, since he
seemed to hope that God would forgive his
crime.
prison,  in accordance with the recent enact-
ment.
" As he left his cell, Humblot requested the
chaplain to write to his mother a description of
his mental state in his closing moments, and to
withhold from her as long as possible the an-
nouncement of his death. He crossed the court-
yard with a firm step, listening attentively to
the exhortations of the priest, and reciting
fervently the prayers he dictated. On reaching
the gate opening on the street, he was seized
with a momentary trembling on seeing the guil-
lotine, having been under the impression that
his execution was to take place at the Barrière
Saint-Jaccjues. He begged the twTo keepers to
support him to the foot of the ladder, and knelt
for a few minutes to repeat a final prayer.
Then, embracing the chaplain and pressing his
lips to the crucifix, he mounted the ladder in
silence, and in another moment all was over."
the morning of the
they went immediately to Lille, where ÏÏ
remained, while Pieri visited Brussels, and
the 8th, they arrived in Paris. Let it not l
forgotten that the Moniteur stated that as f
back as the preceding June, information W
been received of the construction of certain a
plosive machines of terrific power in LoiA,
intended to be thrown under the Earner.'!
carriage; and that the Count de Morney in!
address at the opening of the législative dm
bers, made the announcement that certain m
vincial societies, affiliated with those in Pitt
were in expectation of a catastrophe of m
kind in the middle of January, to be follow
by a popular uprising.
In view of intimations so serious, warnings»
precise, and especially in presence of the'fc
patch of the French minister in Brussels »
nouncing the departure of the regicides, the
reader probably imagines that the most efet
ive measures were instantly taken by the psa
to arrest Pieri the moment he should set ta
In Paris. Listen to the foilowiug details
events as they occurred :
Immediately on his arrival in Paris, Piti
took up his abode at No. 132 Kue MoiitmaA,
in the Hôtel de France et Champagne,ones!
the most frequented and populous quarters 0'
the city. It may be thought, perhaps, tint
changing his name, keeping his chamber,»:
avoiding society, he meditated in darkness is;
solitude over his dreadful scheme, and till _
moment of its accomplishment, escaped I
perquisitions of the police by the most erf
concealment of himself and his projects, ¦
contrary was the fact. Pieri entered the butt
with a passport made out in the mi
Joseph Andreas Pierey, a modification oil»
true name—trivial indeed to conceal from #
covery a man so thoroughly described, s
dined regularly at the public table vntti
other patrons of the house, if we are to be
the testimony of Mme. Briand, the landl
and Doerch, one of the waiters. He.reo»
remained after dinner in the dining-hallto
the papers, or, if he went out, visit©
cafés and other public resorts, or drove8K»
openly in a carriage. He went to see 11
on the 8th, 11th, and 14th of January,
rouge, Rue du Champ-d'Asile, to do wM»
made use of an omnibus from the Bx
d'Enfer; and after returning got down
Place du Chatelet, to dine in a re
He did all this without the police depa»
whose vigilance he seemeoXo aetj.
[CHAPTER XLVII.
THE  ATTEMPT  OP THE 14TII OF JANUARY,
1858.
I cannot better bring these reminiscences'to
an end than by submitting a few brief observa
tions on the attempted assassination of Napoleon
[II., on the 14lh of January, 1858, my point of
In short, i*
miesuble j
Pieri took no pains to conceal bin);
even of his presence in the city.
been established by
incontestible
. onceal him-. .
police was informed in advance of bœ^j
to assassinate the Emperor that he th,
visits to his wife, and that he fréquente»
the most public places.               ..wtto»*1
What measures did the police WV ^ #
him?   None, absolutely none, simF
the means at hand.               , ,____ng(e(] pieri K
The officer who ultimately aires
the night of the 141 h of
Peletier, was the same
the «
whose special ft
been to keep an eye uponj^J^JJ^ ^
Januarys
ftaïreff
and who had been expressly"»
would find Pieri among the pas»
either from London or Belgium,
8th of the month.           .     , ...» De sites*
Can it be seriously claimed tnar^
view being the anomalous action, or ^sant of  with any fidelity to tbe si
single duty 1